θύραζε Κῆρες

Κήρ, ἡ, [dialect] Aeol. [full] Κᾶρ Alc. (v. infr.), gen. Κηρός, acc. Κῆρα; [dialect] Dor.pl. [full] Κᾶρες Hipparch. ap. Stob.4.34.8 (

A v.l. Κῆρες), but sg. κήρ Trag.in lyr. (v. infr.):— the goddess of death or doom,

Κὴρ.. Θανάτοιο Od.11.171

, etc.;

Κῆρες.. Θανάτοιο Il.2.834

, etc.; ἐν δ' Ἔρις ἐν δὲ Κυδοιμὸς ὁμίλεον ἐν δ' ὀλοὴ K.Il.18.535; ἐμὲ μὲν K.

ἀμφέχανε στυγερή, ἥ περ λάχε γιγνόμενόν περ 23.79

; διχθάδιαι Κῆρες, of Achilles, 9.411;

Κῆρες μυρίαι 12.326

; Κῆρες Ἀχαιῶν, Τρώων, 8.73, 74; K.

νηλεόποινοι Hes.Th. 217

; K.

Ἐρινύες A.Th. 1060

(anap.); K.

ἀναπλάκητοι S.OT 472

(lyr.), cf.Tr. 133 (lyr.), Pi.Fr. 277, E.El. 1252, HF 870 (troch.); ἁρπαξάνδρα K., of the Sphinx, A.Th. 777 (lyr.): prov., θύραζε Κῆρες (v.l. Κᾶρες) , οὐκ ἔνι (v.l. ἔτ') Ἀνθεστήρια, of those who want the same always, Zen. 4.33, Suid. s.v. θύραζε.

II as Appellat., doom, death, esp. when violent, rarely without personal sense in Hom., τὸ δέ τοι κὴρ εἴδεται εἶναι that seems to thee to be death, Il.1.228;

κῆρ' ἀλεείνων 3.32

, al.;

φόνον καὶ κ. φέροντες 2.352

, al.: freq. later,

ὐπὰ κᾶρι.. διννάεντ' Ἀχέροντ' ἐπέραισε Alc.Supp.7.7

;

μέλαιναν κῆρ' ἐπ' ὄμμασιν βαλών E.Ph. 950

.

2 νοσῶν παλαιᾷ κηρί plague, disease, S.Ph.42, cf. 1166 (lyr.): in a general sense, βαρεῖα μὲν κ. τὸ μὴ πιθέσθαι grievous ruin it were not to obey, A.Ag. 206 (lyr.); ἐλευθέρῳ ψευδεῖ καλεῖσθαι κ. πρόσεστιν οὐ καλή an unseemly disgrace, S.Tr. 454.

3 pl.sts. in Prose, blemishes, defects, [

τοῖς καλοῖς] κ. ἐπιπεφύκασιν Pl.Lg. 937d

; [

τόποι] ἰδίας ἔχουσι κῆρας Thphr.CP5.10.4

;

κ. σύμφυτοι D.H.2.3

, cf. 8.61;

ἁμαρτίαι καὶ κ. Plu.Cim.2

;

σῶμα ἀκήρατον τῶν ἐκτὸς κ. Ti.Locr. 95b

, cf. Ph.1.368, al.: rarely sg.,

συνήθειαν ὥσπερ τινὰ κ. Plu.Ant.2

, cf.Ph.1.440. (Perh. cogn. with κεραΐζω.)

Grammatical information: f.

Meaning: `death, doom', often personified `goddess or demon of death' (Il.), in plur. `types of death, accidents'; see Nilsson Gr. Rel. 1, 222ff., v. Wilamowitz Glaube 1, 271ff.

Compounds: Compp. z. B. κηρεσσι-φόρητος `by the Keres driven (into death)' (Q 527; Schwyzer 446, Pfister Würzb. Jb. 3, 406f.), κηρι-τρεφεῖς `brought up for death' ( ἄνθρωποι, Hes. Op. 418), κηρο-τρόφος `feeding death, deadly' ( ὄφις, Nic. Th. 192); ἐπί-κηρος `fallen to death' (Hp., Arist., hell.); also ἀ-κήρ-ατος with ἀκηράσιος and ἀ-κήρ-ιος `unharmed', s. 1. ἀκήρατος and Sommer Nominalkomp. 152.

Derivatives: κηρέσιον ὀλέθριον, νοσηρόν H. (after θεσπέσιος); κηραίνω `damage, destroy' (A. Supp. 999, Ph.; after πημαίνω), κηρόομαι `be injured' (EM).

Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]

Etymology: A root noun, which has been derived from κεραΐζω; Sanskrit and Celtic have a root aorist (s. on κεραΐζω); so κήρ would prop. be an agent noun "the destroyer". The disyll. root however, is a problem: we would expect *κηρας (cf. γῆρας \< *ǵērh₂-s). Problematic is further the long vowel α in Alc. ( κᾶρι B 6 A 7) and Alcm. ( κᾶρα Fr. 56; trad. κάραν), PGr. *κά̄ρ (cf. κάρ θάνατος H.). Also καριῶσαι ἀποκτεῖναι and ἐκαρίωσας ἀπέκτεινας H. have α which will have been long (there is no evidence for short α. Then we have the old Attic saying θύραζε Κᾶρες, οὑκ ἔτ' Άνθεστήρια. That Κᾶρες meant `Carians', i.e. `slaves' is clearly an aetological story invented to explain the α. See also Brunel PPh. 41 (1967) 81-104.) Opposed to κᾶρι, κᾶρα in Alc. and Alcm. stand κῆρες and κήρ both in Pi. Fr. 277 and in the choral songs of the tragedy. The suggestion of an ablauting paradigm κήρ, *κᾰρός (not retained in ἐν καρὸς αἴσῃ, s. καρός) with a secondary nom. *κά̄ρ (Ehrlich Sprachgesch. 9f.) cannot be maintained. The conclusion is that the long α is original; the η is simply the IA development of the long α (which was spread over a larger area). The word, then, is Pre-Greek, as may be expected for such an archaic idea: there is no IE root *kār-. Beekes, xxx, 200x, ppp - ppp. Lee Glotta 39 (1961) 191-207 and Ramat Arch. glottol. it. 50 (1965) 137ff. derive the word from κείρω, which is hardly probable.

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Grammatical information: f.

Meaning: `death, doom', often personified `goddess or demon of death' (Il.), in plur. `types of death, accidents'; see Nilsson Gr. Rel. 1, 222ff., v. Wilamowitz Glaube 1, 271ff.

Compounds: Compp. z. B. κηρεσσι-φόρητος `by the Keres driven (into death)' (Q 527; Schwyzer 446, Pfister Würzb. Jb. 3, 406f.), κηρι-τρεφεῖς `brought up for death' ( ἄνθρωποι, Hes. Op. 418), κηρο-τρόφος `feeding death, deadly' ( ὄφις, Nic. Th. 192); ἐπί-κηρος `fallen to death' (Hp., Arist., hell.); also ἀ-κήρ-ατος with ἀκηράσιος and ἀ-κήρ-ιος `unharmed', s. 1. ἀκήρατος and Sommer Nominalkomp. 152.

Derivatives: κηρέσιον ὀλέθριον, νοσηρόν H. (after θεσπέσιος); κηραίνω `damage, destroy' (A. Supp. 999, Ph.; after πημαίνω), κηρόομαι `be injured' (EM).

Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]

Etymology: A root noun, which has been derived from κεραΐζω; Sanskrit and Celtic have a root aorist (s. on κεραΐζω); so κήρ would prop. be an agent noun "the destroyer". The disyll. root however, is a problem: we would expect *κηρας (cf. γῆρας \< *ǵērh₂-s). Problematic is further the long vowel α in Alc. ( κᾶρι B 6 A 7) and Alcm. ( κᾶρα Fr. 56; trad. κάραν), PGr. *κά̄ρ (cf. κάρ θάνατος H.). Also καριῶσαι ἀποκτεῖναι and ἐκαρίωσας ἀπέκτεινας H. have α which will have been long (there is no evidence for short α. Then we have the old Attic saying θύραζε Κᾶρες, οὑκ ἔτ' Άνθεστήρια. That Κᾶρες meant `Carians', i.e. `slaves' is clearly an aetological story invented to explain the α. See also Brunel PPh. 41 (1967) 81-104.) Opposed to κᾶρι, κᾶρα in Alc. and Alcm. stand κῆρες and κήρ both in Pi. Fr. 277 and in the choral songs of the tragedy. The suggestion of an ablauting paradigm κήρ, *κᾰρός (not retained in ἐν καρὸς αἴσῃ, s. καρός) with a secondary nom. *κά̄ρ (Ehrlich Sprachgesch. 9f.) cannot be maintained. The conclusion is that the long α is original; the η is simply the IA development of the long α (which was spread over a larger area). The word, then, is Pre-Greek, as may be expected for such an archaic idea: there is no IE root *kār-. Beekes, xxx, 200x, ppp - ppp. Lee Glotta 39 (1961) 191-207 and Ramat Arch. glottol. it. 50 (1965) 137ff. derive the word from κείρω, which is hardly probable.

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